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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22809205">Jin Wong's No Good Very Bad Horrible Day</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iniora_Nackatori/pseuds/Iniora_Nackatori'>Iniora_Nackatori</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Astral Chain (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff and Humor, Gen, Gift Fic, Jin Wong Has No Luck, Plot What Plot, Short Story</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 09:55:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,132</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22809205</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iniora_Nackatori/pseuds/Iniora_Nackatori</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Set between chapters 18 &amp; 19 of Files -</p>
<p>A slightly below average day for Jin "No Luck" Wong.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Jin Wong's No Good Very Bad Horrible Day</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zell_Hatoule/gifts">Zell_Hatoule</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For Zell - thank you for letting me beta the wild ride that's Files.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The day started going down hill the minute a black cat crossed Jin Wong’s path.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This was not fair to the cat.  By mid day, up to his chin in mud, and on the </span>
  <em>
    <span>very last</span>
  </em>
  <span> nerve, Jin was not inclined to be charitable.  Everything was that damn cat’s fault.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The situation started normally enough.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jin Wong had headed for his car to proceed into work, phone pressed between his ear and his shoulder, listening to a voicemail from one of his CIs. They didn’t have their hands on a sample of Blue Evolve yet.  That said, there was going to be a drop in two days. The CI was vague on the details and even vaugier on what “the item” was - but it was enough for Jin. It would be enough for Alan, too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then, Jin heard a mew.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A distinct, plaintive mew.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He should have walked away.  He should have written the sound off as an active imagination.  He should have </span>
  <em>
    <span>never</span>
  </em>
  <span> gotten involved.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>One of these days, Jin would take his own advice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The cat was barely big enough to be six weeks old.  Storm blue eyes had glinted in the glare of Jin’s flashlight.  The little bugger had wedged themselves between a dumpster and a wall in a way which questioned physics.  Jin knew cats considered their spines optional; he’s never seen such an extreme example.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jin looked around.  No witnesses.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Arm moved the dumpster the three feet needed for Jin to get in, scruff the cat, and get out.  Arm replaced the dumpster as carefully as he had moved it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was to say, there was now an inch deep dent in the wall to go with grooves scratched into the pavement.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The cat was black with the exception of a tan sock on its right front paw.  An indelicate examination revealed the kitten was female. When she mewed in Jin’s face, her breath reeked.  An equally indelicate sniff showed the whole cat smelled of garbage. It begged the question on </span>
  <em>
    <span>how</span>
  </em>
  <span> -</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Better not to ask</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Jin figured.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Arm cooing at the kitten and giving it extra delicate head scratches was reason enough for Jin to take a detour.  Olive owed him a favor. Jin called it in so he could swing by Maison Forest’s Howard Cat Sanctuary. He’d drop an anonymous tip for the Cat Man of Maison Forest to bring kitten food on his next trip.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Now, how to transport the cat safely had been in question.  A minute’s debate settled Jin on an old shoe box tied closed with boot laces.  Quick jabs with a pocket knife had put air holes in appropriate spots. The cat had protested confinement, and Jin couldn’t blame her.  The shoe box had been for knee high boots which made it taller and longer than the average box - but a box was still a box.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jin should have taken into account where he had found the cat.  But the holes were too small, Jin had reasoned. The laces were too secure.  It was makeshift and cobbled together but it would keep the cat secure.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Naturally, the cat escaped.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>While Jin was on the freeway.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jin was unaware of the escape at first.  The cat had been put in the back on the floor.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jin became aware of the escape when he felt something brush his pants leg.  The something felt fuzzy as it worked its way under the hem of his pants leg.  The cat’s needle sharp claws sunk into Jin’s leg hard enough his foot stomped. Fortunately, she was going up Jin’s left leg, and so he hadn’t stomped on the accelerator.  Unfortunately, she was </span>
  <em>
    <span>going up Jin’s leg.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jin decided to call the cat Howard.  She was just as tenacious and headache inducing as every Howard Jin knew.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>By the time Jin could get off the freeway, Howard was dangerously close to Jin’s boxers.  By the time he found a parking space, Howard had her claws in Jin’s underwear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The mass stare Jin got from pedestrians as he stood outside his car made his skin itch.  Getting Howard out of his pants was an exercise in </span>
  <em>
    <span>pain</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Brenda was going to have so many words.  </span>
  <em>
    <span>Misaki</span>
  </em>
  <span> was going to have words.  God, if photos of this got out, Jin would die of mortification.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jin had Arm hold onto Howard.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Or he would have.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The armed robbers walking with deliberate purpose out of the jewelry store was a bit distracting.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>One unhappy pair of would-be robbers later, Jin returned to his car with a limp.  The robbers had ran - of course they had ran - necessitating Jin giving chase. Said chase had ended with Jin getting a drink spilled down his chest.  He was pretty sure the bloodstains on his pants leg were never going to come out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Opening his car door led to the discovery Howard was teething.  She’d jumped her hot little self onto the dashboard, down onto the steering column, and proceeded to chew on his steering wheel.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jin had Arm hold onto Howard for the duration of the drive.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Howard meowed about it.  Incessantly. For the whole thirty minutes of driving.  Arm cooing over her was the cutest thing Jin had seen in awhile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Jin arrived at Maison Forest, he was hit with a significant obstacle: There was no parking.  None. Jin could not get parking in the Maison Forest district for love, money, or cute fluffy kittens.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jin had to park a district over.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>One Crest was a complex not far removed from Maison Forest.  It would take Jin another thirty minutes to get to the cat sanctuary.  Jin secured Howard in her box, tucked the box under his arm, and started walking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What Jin wished he had known about before he had started walking was the One Crest Beautification Project.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The less Jin thought on it, the better.  Really. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Mud up to his chin</span>
  </em>
  <span> was more than Jin wanted to know.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At least Howard wasn’t hurt.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Jin’s day marginally improved once Howard was secure in the cat sanctuary.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The police academy tour had a hairbrain rookie who caused a methane spill in the Forensic labs.  The resulting toxic brew forced the evacuation of Police HQ, up to and including Neuron. Jin discovered the problem when he attempted to park.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jin got to spend the next four hours in mud caked clothes with a bloody leg.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No one dared talk to him.  The growl, Jin was informed later, had been </span>
  <em>
    <span>very</span>
  </em>
  <span> off putting.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>There was a photo on Jin’s desk the next morning.  It showed Howard in a box meowing up at the camera.  Above the picture of Howard was a photo-shopped image of Jin coated in mud being dangled as though Howard intended to eat him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jin framed it.</span>
</p>
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